While you play your part in helping with the COVID-19 pandemic, do ponder over how we, collectively, have caused a great ordeal to nature.
Picture this. You are standing amidst some luscious trees. Nature is all that you see around. The sounds of birds chirping in their melodious voice falls in your ears ever so delightfully. You take a deep breath, inhaling fresh, crisp air inside. The cool breeze brushes your skin gently, you look up at the sky and take in the beauty of the gorgeous sky that hovers above your head. It feels like heaven.
Humans, the real culprits, have stripped themselves of this bliss in almost all the places they could. From cutting down trees to building up houses, snatching freedom from the wildlife almost completely in most cases to construct roads. The ever-increasing pollution seemingly decimated this beautiful planet. As wildlife and nature struggled, most humans seemed to believe they were thriving. Some noticed the cost of it and worked towards eliminating as many ill practices as they could. Unfortunately, the damage inflicted was too great to recover from. For how long could the Earth endure? Retaliation seemed inevitable.
Then came a deadly pandemic, COVID-19. It is almost as if people all around the world are now caged inside their own homes, struggling and suffering in attempts to survive. If you look closely, it seems much like how the wildlife had been struggling at our expense. Not anymore, though.
All around the world, this sudden change in all human activities has resulted in great things for nature. Things that many of us might have not even imagined. The ozone layer that had been depleting for so long started healing. The air has started to become more and more pollution-free. Animals that hadn’t been seen for so long have been coming back in the open, finally getting some freedom they very well-deserve.
According to WWF, the earth’s vertebrate wildlife alone has been decreased to 60 percent in 40 years. Fortunately, the situation for the wildlife improved as human-activities and movements were restricted. Even in Pakistan, wildlife seems to be freely wandering around in their habitat after years. Threatened animals that were thought of as endangered were seen again. Many animals were spotted in the cameras located at Margalla Hills. Leopards, fox, martins, jackals, porcupines, barking deer and wild bears are among all those that emerged near the hiking trails in Islamabad. Even more birds have been noticed around in the open all over the world. Surely a sight to behold, however from afar.
The situation has made visible the damage that has been perpetrated, giving us all time to soak in the errors and think of finding ways to live in harmony and peace with the wildlife. Newer and better conduct should be thought of, such that nature is never taken for granted again. Of all the things the emerging pandemic has given us, one thing we should all be grateful for is how nature is reacting to it. As you play your part in helping with this pandemic, do ponder over how we, collectively, have caused a great ordeal to nature.
